Posted
by
samzenpuson Wednesday October 27, 2010 @04:52PM
from the no-phone-for-you dept.

tekgoblin writes "There have been numerous reasons why the White iPhone 4 may be delayed with one reason being the color mismatch between the home button and the body. Well this time there is another reason. A source has told CultofMac that the reason for the delay is a light leakage issue caused by the case being clear. Light from the case leaks into pictures taken by the back and front camera on the white iPhone 4, causing distorted pictures. This problem is non-existent on the black iPhone 4, because of its already black case, so Apple has been looking for a solution to this problem, thus the delay of the White iPhone 4 till spring of next year."

I'd rather a manufacturer delay a product launch until they get things absolutely right.

HTC rushed the EVO out the door to meet demand, and their early releases had some serious hardware quality problems (light leakage around screen, screen separation, broken housing near power button, display problems, etc.) I'm not making this stuff up. I had to return THREE of my handsets before I got one that was good, and all three of those were Hardware Revision 003. I can't imagine what 001 and 002 were like.

Plastic? I was under the impression that it's white paint on glass. I can see getting that to be completely opaque to be a moderately difficult task, particularly at the thicknesses they're working with.

I once refused to buy a phone because I wanted the plain-black instead of the bright red. Unfortunately the black was discontinued, so I never bought the phone.

Another time I delayed buying a Nintendo Gamecube because I thought the original color was hokey (looked like a toy). Also not many games worth playing. Then they released the black version about a year later, which I liked a lot better, so I decided to buy it.

Afaict most plastics in thier natural state (no pigments or dyes added) tend to be translucent.

Black plastics are black because they have a pigment in them that absorbs lots of light (carbon black is a common one though not the only one). Once light is absorbed it's not going any further though the plastic.

White plastics are white becase they have a pigment in them that scatters light. As that light is scattered a lot of it comes straight back out but some continues to bounce arround in the plastic potentially making it to the other size.

So white plastics tend to be worse at blocking light than black ones all else being equal.

Another time I delayed buying a Nintendo Gamecube because I thought the original color was hokey (looked like a toy). Also not many games worth playing. Then they released the black version about a year later, which I liked a lot better, so I decided to buy it.

You know, I truly can't tell if you're serious. You delayed buying a toy because the color made it look...like...a...toy...